ACI 3.6UAD

[Essexfenwick]

Is there a younger crowd that still uses forums?

If I was younger and an appraiser... I'd be on here and elsewhere asking advice and networking. Always looking for new or old ideas for shortcuts to more money and less work. It's all about money and extension of lifespan.

When I did my SRA demonstration report in a cookie cutter neighborhood.. I contacted landlords for rental info that at the time wasn't public. One landlord of multiple properties gave me a ton of info and tried to get me to join AMWAY lol. I declined but he was interested a young guy getting into real estate and gave me investor tips to landlording. Stuff that would set you back as a newbie. Plus the excitement of an entrepreneur. Rental houses helped me accumulate wealth... Sold them all. I think young people on psych drugs looking at screens for a future create great opportunities for others willing to network personally.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

that only covers ... 90% of us?

So, you are all on ACI and cannot switch vendors?

 

[Alsie35]

So, you are all on ACI and cannot switch vendors?

Good God

I meant that 90% of appraisers are doing GSA appraisals.

Yes, I pulled that number out of thin air, but my point is still valid - an OVERWHELMING majority or % of appraisers - including among us few geezers still loitering around here - are - GSA appraisers. The software we use is irrelevant to my point.

Most of us are either too old, or not mathematically qualified enough, or BOTH, to be anything more than GSA appraisers at this point in time ...

[I will be retiring, so I have little concern about what's coming you understand... ]

 

[DWiley]

(I could have added the obvious parts about some of us not having the math skills - or interest - or patience anymore - to pursue the "SRA" thingy (whutevertheheckthatis), but ... you get the point by now ... the 'form filling' that some of the *AHEM* 'folks' on this board constantly pooh-pooh was actually the "feature" we liked ... a job mindless enough and short enough, per report, for tolerating the subject matter ... and the "pattern ID" component of the job is actually a mentally stimulating exercise - in short, compact doses - like an appraisal report ....)

"Mindless" form filling, without the math skills to back up what is entered on the form, is not appraising, even if the person doing it has an appraiser credential. The thing that makes an appraisal credible is the fact that it is supported by evidence and logic. Despite what some here seem to think, the fact that you have adjusted $X/SF for the past 20+ years is not evidence that the adjustment is proper.

 

[Alsie35]

"Mindless" form filling, without the math skills to back up what is entered on the form, is not appraising, even if the person doing it has an appraiser credential. The thing that makes an appraisal credible is the fact that it is supported by evidence and logic. Despite what some here seem to think, the fact that you have adjusted $X/SF for the past 20+ years is not evidence that the adjustment is proper.

Inputting subject data, market data and gridding comps on the 1004 form is the mindless part, not the figuring out of the adjustments or the market trends.

That's the fun part that keeps me interested because no two properties are the same.

That's what match pair gridding and the proprietary Excel forms are for. And if all you do are residential cookie cutters, it ain't exactly rocket science.

I was taught appraising by Rick Langdon.

In person. And he taught me how to appraise the right way.

And that's the way I've always done it.

 

[DWiley]

Inputting subject data, market data and gridding comps on the 1004 form is the mindless part, not the figuring out of the adjustments or the market trends.

That's the fun part that keeps me interested because no two properties are the same.

That's what match pair gridding and the proprietary Excel forms are for. And if all you do are residential cookie cutters, it ain't exactly rocket science.

I was taught appraising by Rick Langdon.

In person. And he taught me how to appraise the right way.

And that's the way I've always done it.

I would say that you were fortunate to have such a good teacher.

 

[Alsie35]

I would say that you were fortunate to have such a good teacher.

I have literally thanked him in my thoughts every day the past 17 years that I've been out on my own.

The Wells Fargo PFP program was basically the only thing that kept those of us who had been World Savings Bank appraisers in this line of work for 4 to 5 years after the crash of 2008.

Rick refused to do away with that program and go with AMCs that offered him the same service, with probably less headaches then managing a huge nationwide panel of independent appraisers.

He basically told the AMCs, 'I worked with all of these people, I trained them, and they're like family to me'.

He's not only an incredible appraiser and manager, he is a wonderful human being.

Anyway ..back to the topic at hand ... my eyes aren't good enough anymore to handle learning a new system from scratch, much less mess with the auto import of comps data, etc etc... I'm a Boomer who is not particularly post-2010 tech savvy ... and I don't particularly appreciate the all too fast pace of technology change, which the human brain was not evolved for, and which is being driven by people too young to fully understand what they're doing. Not just in this field, but society-wide. It is bewildering to behold.

Ah well. C'est la Vie.

 

[CPTamerica]

Just finished reading ACI’s Navigating the UAD and Form Redesign guide. If anyone’s wondering how bad this is going to get, buckle up.

ACI is killing off all desktop software and forcing everyone onto their new cloud only Workbench platform. Once UAD 3.6 goes live in November 2026 and legacy forms die in May 2027, everything you do will run through their servers. No more local control, no real ownership of your data, and no ability to work offline.

The new URAR isn’t a form at all. It’s a dynamic data driven interface built to feed Fannie and Freddie’s systems. Every field is standardized, every comment is constrained, and the free form narrative that actually explains a property is being phased out in the name of reducing bias. In reality it’s just making appraisers more replaceable and their data more machine readable.

Real time compliance checks will run as you type. If the system doesn’t like your entry, it flags or blocks it. The result isn’t a report. It’s a structured dataset built for automation.

The timeline is already locked. Beta in April 2025. Limited rollout in September 2025. Full production in January 2026. Mandatory in November 2026. Desktop retirement in May 2027. After that everything runs through the cloud.

This is the biggest structural change since HVCC. Independence, narrative context, and human analysis are being replaced by standardized data capture. The GSEs get the data. ACI gets the subscriptions. Appraisers lose control.

If you’re still in the field, start planning now. Learn the new system, back up everything locally, and build your private and non-lender client base before they flip the switch.

Exactly what I warned about in my book Mein Comp: The Last Appraiser. This isn’t modernization. It’s the slow dismantling of independent judgment disguised as innovation. Every chapter I wrote is unfolding right in front of us.

ACI has also moved to an auto renewal company decision and will not give you a refund, even if you DO NOT download and input your new key. My renewal came up and I was still researching whether or not I was going to continue with them because of this workbench issue. They renewed my license on a Saturday and I called them on Monday to inform them that I decided to go with a different software for the first time in 20 years in the business and they told me that they do not issue refunds. You can request it, but it will be turned down. I think this new policy decision will prevent me from ever going back to ACI.

 

[sputnam]

ACI has also moved to an auto renewal company decision and will not give you a refund, even if you DO NOT download and input your new key. My renewal came up and I was still researching whether or not I was going to continue with them because of this workbench issue. They renewed my license on a Saturday and I called them on Monday to inform them that I decided to go with a different software for the first time in 20 years in the business and they told me that they do not issue refunds. You can request it, but it will be turned down. I think this new policy decision will prevent me from ever going back to ACI.

Back in the day, ACI was given to me by my employer. Having to use it was enough to keep me from ever paying them for the, um, privilege.

 

[Alsie35]

Back in the day, ACI was given to me by my employer. Having to use it was enough to keep me from ever paying them for the, um, privilege.

I briefly used Bradford Clickforms during the 1+ month ACI First Am 'hacking outage' a couple of years ago ... much prettier than ACI, but a bit slower (having developed an innate knowledge of ACI shortcuts and 'cut and paste' library for all manner of additional commentary undoubtedly helps).

No experience with Alamode, but they became dead to me when I caught one of their sales critters flat-out lying to me about Alamode's ability to let me import my ACI comps database into their system about 8 years ago ... spoiler: turned out they can't do that. (no duh).